La Mia Pizza →

Photo: c. foodblogchef 2021 Veggie Pizza

Having grown up in an Italian immigrant community in Providence, Rhode Island, my dad always made pizza at home. I guess it follows that I have always loved making my own pizza. I love pizza! In fact, I never met a pizza I didn’t like (except the one from one of the big pizza chain stores that I threw away in disgust). But, there’s pizza and then there’s Pizza! Over the past year, I took a deep dive into pizzaiolo culture in search of the perfect pizza. Neapolitan, Sicilian, Roman pizza al taglio, New York style, Detroit style, Chicago deep dish, New Haven Apizza by Frank Pepe, etc., if made well, I love them all, but my preference is something between thin Neapolitan, thick Sicilian, and crunchy Roman pizza al taglio. I want pizza with lots of air pockets in the outer edge of the crust (the cornicione) and I want a thicker bottom crust than Neapolitan style, but not as thick as Sicilian pizza; light and crunchy, not soggy and floppy. I became semi-obsessed (my wife would say obsessed!) I went down the pizzaiolo rabbit hole and learned about different kinds of flour, gluten formation, Biga, Poolish, hydration, pre-fermentation, gluten formation, cold fermentation, room temperature proofing, baking steel, pizza stone, cast iron pan-pizza...etc. Whew! Pizzaioli say making pizza is an art, but who knew that making the perfect pizza crust could be more complicated than making Coquilles St. Jacques. Geeese! Here’s what I came up with after many attempts...there are two fundamental steps to making the perfect pizza: making a good dough and cooking the pizza at the right temperature to achieve the light airy crunchy crust. The dough recipe below is dependable and works well to produce a light crunchy crust filled with air pockets. The second step of baking the pizza may take a bit of experimentation to adapt to the stove or grill you have available to bake with. If you don’t have a pizza oven, a hot 500 F. oven or gas grill and a pizza stone or pizza steel are essential. I found that using my gas grill works well (it heats up quickly) and causes less wear and tear on my kitchen oven. If you want to become a proficient home-pizzaiolo, follow the steps below and don’t give up if your first attempt doesn’t give you the results you want. Try again until you have your pizzaiolo technique perfected. You will smile to yourself every time you pass by a pizza restaurant. Divertiti! Mangia e buon appetito!

Demystified Roman Style Pizza with No-Knead Pizza Dough

Special equipment:
digital cooking scale (or you can convert grams to cups and tablespoons, but it won’t be as accurate)
gas grill or kitchen oven that can reach 500F.
pizza stone, pizza steel, or large cast-iron pan
pizza peel
Motivation to make a great homemade pizza!

Make the dough…
Ingredients:

• 330 grams #00 King Arthur or Caputo flour (sifted)

• 5 grams instant yeast (1 1/8 teaspoon)

• 5 grams sugar (1 teaspoon)

• 7 grams of salt (1 teaspoon fine salt)

• 241 grams (275 ml.) of warm water (about 110-115 F.)

• 2 tablespoons of olive oil

Method:

1. Sift all the dry ingredients except the salt into a large bowl and make a hollow in the center.

2. Mix the warm water and olive oil and add slowly into the hollow center; mixing with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula, rotating the bowl, scraping down the sides until a shaggy dough forms.

3. Cover and let the dough rest for 10 minutes before stirring in the salt.

4. Cover the container and rest for 1 hour.

5. Wet or oil your hands and leaving the dough in the container, stretch and fold the dough lengthwise in half four times, rotating 90 degrees between each fold; cover and rest for 5 minutes. Repeat this 3 more times resting the dough 5 minutes between each sequence of 4 folds. You want a smooth dough to form.

6. Cover and rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.

7. Place the dough in a lightly oiled container covered in the fridge or cool place for at least 24 hours up to 40 hours. (This “cold ferment” adds flavor and elasticity to the dough. After 24 hours the dough will have doubled in size and be full of bubbles created by the yeast.)

8. Dump the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and stretch and fold in thirds like folding a letter (2 times rotating 90 degrees); then pinch the seams and form a ball.

9. Return the ball to an oiled container covered for 3 hours at room temperature.

10. Dump the dough onto a lightly floured surface, flatten gently with your hand, and starting in the middle, using your fingertips, finger-poke-stretch the dough into a round form leaving a thicker bubbly outer rim about 1 inch wide. Note: stretch the dough so it is about a ¼ inch thick in the middle main body of the pizza round leaving a 1” wide bubbly thicker outer ring of dough for the outer crust (cornicione).

Make the pizza:

1. Gently lift your stretched round of dough onto a sheet of parchment paper on a pizza peel. Trim the excess paper from around the dough leaving about a 1-inch wide rim of paper beyond the edge of the dough. Cover the dough loosely with plastic wrap and allow to rest for about 30 minutes while you pre-heat the grill and gather your toppings.

2. If you don’t have a special pizza oven, if your kitchen oven can reach 500 F., pre-heat the pizza stone or pizza steel on the bottom rack of the oven. Otherwise, preheat a gas grill covered for about 30 minutes to 500 F. with the pizza stone on the rack. Heat the grill with the end burners on medium and the pizza stone placed in the middle.

3. After 30 minutes, while the grill is still preheating, brush the dough lightly with olive oil (especially the outer edge), add light sauce and toppings of your choice to the stretched dough.

4. Using a pizza peel, transfer the pizza on the parchment to your hot pizza stone. Close the grill and increase the middle burner to low.

5. After 5 minutes, the thicker outer ring of the dough should have puffed up and started to turn light brown; pull the parchment out from under the dough and continue to bake until the cheese is melted and just starting to brown and the bottom crust is golden brown. (check after 10 minutes more.)

6. Use the pizza peel to remove the pizza from the oven and place it on a metal cookie rack to cool a bit. Placing it on the rack helps to maintain the wonderful crunchy bottom crust you worked so hard to achieve.

For the science behind making pizza dough go to Cooks Illustrated: https://www.cooksillustrated.com/articles/1281-introducing-pizza-al-taglio

For a video tutorial see: Mile Zero Kitchen “Authentic Roman Pizza”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OY3f-A0t2_M

Super Easy No Knead Rosemary Parmesan Focaccia →

Who doesn’t love the smell and flavor of freshly baked crunchy, chewy warm bread? This focaccia recipe adapted from Bon Appetit (#bonappetitmag) is so easy, it’s almost embarrassing! I’ve tried several more traditional focaccia recipes and the labor involved did not produce better focaccia than this very, very easy ( dare I say fun?) magical process. Using an 18x13” sheet pan yields bread about 1 ½ inches thick. Using a smaller baking pan will produce thicker bread that can be sliced in half to use for sandwiches. The thinner version can be used for snacking or cut into 2” squares and topped with your choice of savory toppings for appetizers (think tomato salsa with basil, or browned, sauteed mushrooms with a pinch of thyme and an optional splash of brandy). If you want the full, rich flavor of this bread serve it warm. Leftover bread can be reheated in a 300-degree oven or toaster oven for 5 minutes. It keeps well in the freezer for several weeks.

10-12 servings

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups lukewarm water (90-110 F.)

• 1 ¼-oz. envelope active dry yeast (about 2¼ tsp.) or an equal amount of instant yeast

• 2 tsp. honey

• 5 cups (625 g) all-purpose flour

• 5 tsp. Diamond Crystal or 1 Tbsp. Morton kosher salt

• 6 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil, divided, plus more for hands

• 4 Tbsp. unsalted butter, plus more for the pan

• 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh rosemary

• 2 tablespoons grated parmesan

• Flaky sea salt (optional)

• 2–4 garlic cloves (optional)

Preparation:

1. Whisk 1¼-oz. envelope active dry yeast (about 2¼ tsp.), 2 tsp. honey, and 2½ cups lukewarm water in a medium bowl and let sit for 5 minutes (it should foam or at least get creamy; if it doesn’t your yeast is dead and you should start again—check the expiration date!). (If using instant yeast, skip this step and add the warm water and honey in Step 2)

2. Add 5 cups (625 g) all-purpose flour, 5 teaspoons Diamond Crystal or 1 tablespoon Morton kosher salt, (add instant yeast if using), and mix with a rubber spatula until a shaggy dough forms and no dry streaks remain. If using Instant Yeast, add the warm water and honey now.

3. Pour 4 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil into a big bowl that will fit in your refrigerator. This puppy is going to rise! Transfer dough to bowl and turn to coat in oil. Cover with a silicone lid or plastic wrap and chill until dough is doubled in size (it should look very bubbly and alive), for at least 8 hours and up to 1 day. I let it rise at room temperature until doubled in size, about 3–4 hours.

4. Generously butter a 13x9" baking pan, for thicker focaccia that’s perfect for sandwiches, or an 18x13" rimmed baking sheet, for focaccia that's thinner, crispier, and great for snacking. I used an 18x13” sheet pan. The butter may seem unnecessary, but it’ll ensure that your focaccia doesn’t stick. (remember: Julia Child would say, “butter makes it better!”

5. Keeping the dough in the bowl and using a fork in each hand, gather up the edges of the dough farthest from you and lift up and over into the center of the bowl. Give the bowl a quarter turn and repeat the process. Do this 2 more times; you want to deflate dough while you form it into a rough ball. (Credit this technique to Alexandra Stafford @alexandracooks, who uses it to shape her no-knead bread.) Transfer dough to a prepared pan. Pour any oil left in the bowl over the dough and turn the dough over.

6. Let the dough rise, uncovered, in a dry, warm spot (like near a radiator or on top of the fridge or a preheating oven) until doubled in size, at least 1½ hours and up to 4 hours.

7. Place a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 450°. To see if the dough is ready, poke it with your finger. It should spring back slowly, leaving a small visible indentation. If it springs back quickly, the dough isn’t ready. (If at this point the dough is ready to bake but you aren’t, you can chill it for up to 1 hour.)

8. Lightly oil your hands. If using a rimmed baking sheet, gently stretch out the dough to fill the pan. (you probably won't need to do this if using a baking pan). Dimple the focaccia all over with your fingers, like you’re aggressively playing the piano, creating deep depressions in the dough (poke your fingers all the way to the bottom of the pan).

9. Sprinkle the dough evenly all over with the rosemary and parmesan or whatever toppings you have on hand. The dough is a blank culinary-canvas for you to paint. Bake the focaccia until it is puffed and golden brown all over, 20–30 minutes.

10. *Optional: If you want garlicky bread, hold off on this last step until you're ready to serve the focaccia: Melt 4 tablespoons of unsalted butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Remove from heat. Peel and grate in 2–4 garlic cloves with a Microplane (use 2 cloves if you’re garlic-shy or up to 4 if you love it). Return to medium heat and cook, stirring often, until garlic is just lightly toasted 30–45 seconds. (Or, if you prefer raw garlic to toasted garlic, you can grate the garlic into the hot butter, off heat, then brush right away.) Brush the garlic-butter all over the focaccia and slice into squares or rectangles.

Adapted from: https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/easy-no-knead-focaccia